


I Like to Move It Move It

by Lady_Phenyx



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Hypnosis, Jack being a little shit, Karaoke, Music battle, Siren, flash mob
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-25
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-24 15:29:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/941581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Phenyx/pseuds/Lady_Phenyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack's Father was a Siren. Some things get passed on through the blood.</p><p>Too bad Jack didn't remember that when he rose from the lake.</p><p>Or</p><p>Four different times Jack learned of, abused, or helped someone with his power.</p><p>Kink meme deanon<br/><span class="small">Original prompt: Either his father or his mother was a siren, and their ability to hypnotize people by singing to them passed onto Jackson and Emma. Jackson retained this ability when he became Jack Frost as it was part of his genetic makeup (like how Humans can speak).</span></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Learning to Sing

“Never sing where anyone can hear you,” their mother warned them. “It’s your father’s gift, but he knew how to control it. You may have it in you or you may not, but they won't understand if you do. So don't give them the chance to find out. It will only end in tears.”

If only Jack had remembered his mother’s words when he rose from the lake.

 

Jack perched on his staff in the middle of his lake, his voice ringing clear and true in the cold stillness as he sang to himself. It was a soft tune, gentle and simple and comforting, one he'd heard a woman in the village singing. It drove the silence away, for awhile at least.

He heard a branch snap, and looked over to see a pair of children looking directly at him. They could hear him, he realized suddenly with a leap of his heart. They were looking at him! 

...or possibly not, their eyes looked a bit glazed. Still, they were coming towards him, reacting to his singing, so they heard him at least!

He kept singing and they kept walking slowly toward him. They came to the edge of his lake and he expected them to stop there to listen. The ice was thin now, after all, except under his perch.

...they were still coming! Up to the edge, and they walked onto the ice, not reacting to the change from solid earth to flimsy ice, not even reacting when it groaned and threatened to give out from under them. Shocked, Jack stopped singing and almost immediately they stopped walking, blinking slowly as they woke. 

The ice creaked under their feet and they panicked, scrambling back to the solid ground by the edge of the lake. All three of them, human and spirit, were frozen with fear at how close they had come to a cold, watery grave before the children fled, fleeing the lake for the warm security of the village.

Did...did he do that? How did he…? He had to know, Jack realized, leaping from his staff and into the wind. He had to find out, somehow.

 

It _was_ him. He'd tried it with a dozen different songs, a dozen different places, and the results were the same – humans that acted as though they could see and hear him, following him blindly or obeying his song.

He curled up on the cliff top, staring at the waves down below sightlessly. This new power...it was _terrifying_. He wanted to see and be seen, but this...he could have drowned those kids...this was as dangerous as his blizzards!

Or maybe...maybe he could help people with it, too, like those kids he'd seen before who got lost in his blizzards, the ones he'd tried so hard to save but could only at best make more comfortable before they died. Maybe...he could lead them home, or lead help to them, or... mind whirling, he stared down at the water for hours, thinking in silence and wondering why he could do this and what he should do now.


	2. Flash Mob

There was a little girl dancing alone.

She had music playing, and she was trying to get someone, anyone else to dance with her, but everyone was ignoring her instead.

That just wouldn’t do, Jack decided.

He didn’t know the song she was playing, so he’d just improvise. He’d lived through enough, surely he could think of something…grinning, he opened his mouth and started to sing. This wasn’t his first rodeo, after all.

Flash mobs were the Best. Thing. Ever. Jack decided ten minutes later, perching on top of a streetlamp to watch. He’d been so careful with singing over the last three hundred years as he learned the limits of this strange power that wasn’t part of his ice and snow, but now…now there was an excuse to get people dancing in the streets, and they didn’t get in trouble or jeered at like they used to! They got applause, and left happy if a bit confused over what had just happened. 

The little girl he’d started singing for looked so happy she could cry, and there were at least ten other kids who’d joined her by this point. Even adults weren’t immune to his song, joining in as the dancing spread, the biggest flash mob he’d ever gotten going.

He threw his joy into the song and the people dancing responded, laughing and twirling in the street. They couldn’t see him, couldn’t hear him if he spoke, but they couldn’t stop from dancing when he sang.

Grinning, he changed songs to one urging the listener to sing along. As long as he had an audience this large, he may as well enjoy every bit of it he could.

He just wished, sometimes, he had someone who _could_ see him and properly hear him, someone he could talk to about this, to argue morality, who could tell him why he could do it, to share it with.

For the moment, though, he’d enjoy what he could get.

Maybe someday, he’d get lucky and he could get that grumpy, full-of-himself Easter Rabbit to dance. Might as well wish to get all of the Big Four doing some goofy dance, but hey, a guy could dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are longer chapters coming, I swear. I just kept getting short bursts of inspiration for this.
> 
> My friend and I had a good long argument about whether or not it's ethically okay to do what Jack did in this chapter. I wasn't sure, he said yeah. Obviously, I went with it in the end.
> 
> Also, I mentioned Jack is a little shit sometimes, right? Because he is.


	3. Karaoke Party

Jack clapped a hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh out loud. 

This was the only reason he still showed up to Guardian meetings, really. 

They were trying to meet up more often, all five of them, and North’s idea of bi-monthly meetings had started to sputter out. Really, they mostly had things in hand, and trying to get Jack to consistently be responsible and act like a “proper Guardian” – aka “adult” – was like demanding the tides stop and expecting it to happen. 

I.E. a very, very silly idea that just wasn’t going to work. Jack had tried, but being a roaming prankster was part of who Jack was. The Guardians had been unobservant for years, but they were trying to be better, and anyone who paid the slightest attention could see how trying to please the others by being ‘good’ was going to do nothing but crush Jack’s center. 

If anything, Jack was influencing the other four, not the other way around.

Now, the meetings were more an excuse to meet up, briefly tell each other what they’d been up to, then get to the real business of enjoying each other’s company.

Which may have been why sometimes, they just found themselves with the urge to gather together. It wasn’t until they had Jack in their lives, teasing them out of their homes, that they realized just how lonely they’d been and how much they missed just being silly sometimes.

The karaoke was Tooth's idea, encouraged by her mini fairies. The media room that North had updated for movie nights had been temporarily converted by the entirely too-amused Phil with a sparkling new karaoke machine. 

When it came right down to it, no one had the heart to say no to Tooth when she was so excited about it, although Jack was doing his best to avoid a turn at the microphone without making it obvious. 

So far, he’d avoided it by taking charge of the machine. Thanks to him, Bunny had sung “Colors of the Wind” with quite a few eye rolls and mock glares toward Jack and amused glances and cheering by the others. After that Bunny started doing his best to avoid the microphone again.

North had chosen “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” and Jack was going to need large quantities of eggnog to get that out of his head. He’d gotten to choose for Tooth, who was a bit shakier at remembering song titles. She paid for that with “Just a Girl”, though Jack was pretty sure he’d made it up to her by choosing “Dream a Little Dream of Me” for her second go.

Even Sandy had taken a turn with the microphone, which had been an interesting light show, and a hilarious one when he’d gotten a bit creative and loose with his sand-images. Jack’s choice for him of “Enter Sandman” (The look on Sandy’s face when the title came up and then when the lyrics registered had both been utterly worth any retribution from the dream-giver) and Sandy’s choice of “I Will Survive” were never going to be the same.

Bunny was up again now, thanks to Tooth’s urging and her fairies’ gushing over his voice. He was a good singer, no doubt about that – but he was also a reluctant singer, an embarrassed one, and North had dragged him into a duet – and not just any duet, but “You’re the One That I Want”. 

North was a decent singer – or would be, if he hadn't been so enthusiastic he kept missing notes and shouting out the words instead of singing. 

Their song finished and Bunny darted away from the microphone as if it were going to come alive and eat him. Tooth was laughing and applauding, though, and obviously having fun, and Sandy was laughing his head off silently, so Bunny was keeping most of his complaints to himself. 

“Ah, Jack, is your turn,” North declared. Jack held up his hands and dodged, backpedaling away from North as if he were holding a snake, doing his best to avoid taking the microphone. 

One nice thing about being mostly alone for three hundred years – he’d never had someone _asking_ him to sing before.

“Um, no thanks, North, I'm not that good at singing in public,” Jack tried, floating towards the ceiling. “Probably break all your ice prototypes, or something. Besides, I’m having fun running the machine.”

“Is not about quality of singing, Jack,” North scolded. “Come, give it try. Is fun!”

“Please, Jack?” Tooth added. “Everyone else has gone.” Which was the truth, Jack had to admit – but still, there were times when his singing could affect other spirits, and he wasn’t sure how the others would take it if it affected them. He wasn’t ready to tell, but if he did and affected them…wouldn’t they feel betrayed later? Or would they laugh about it? Bunny didn’t trust easily, was just starting to trust him…would he laugh it off as a prank or would they be back to ‘Blizzard of 68’?

Plus, the elves had finally gotten the door open. Who knew how much of the workshop he’d affect? 

…that would be _awesome_. And…there were dance songs on there, weren’t there? And…making _The Big Four_ dance…wavering as temptation called Jack floated down hesitantly toward the floor.

“Just take the mic, ya show pony,” Bunny grumbled, “before I pick something for ya. I still need ta get ya for that first song.” 

Scrambling for a plausible excuse, Jack made the mistake of looking toward Tooth and her troop of off-duty fairies, almost all of whom were giving some variation on the puppy-eyes. He could barely resist when Baby Tooth did that, now he had about ten of them, including her, all looking at him with huge eyes and wibbling...wincing, he gave up and reached to take the microphone, scrolling through the available songs as they cheered. 

If he could find something they'd want to dance to, that they wouldn’t notice he was influencing them...a small part of him scolded him for not telling them about his special talent, while a larger part, the part that remembered three hundred years of solitude, of the blank faces of those first children, every close call he’d had over the years, was still too afraid to tell. At least he knew why now, thanks Tooth.

Later, he decided, he'd think about telling them later. For now...for now, there was the “Macarena” and a workshop – including an Easter Kangaroo – to make dance.

Oh, for a camera. His _kingdom_ for a camera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack can resist anything - except mischief's temptation.
> 
> And the Baby Teeth.


	4. The Pied Piper

Jack cursed under his breath. 

Of all the spirits trying to make a comeback, why did it have to be _The Pied Piper_? Sure there were more dangerous spirits, like Bloody Bones or Baba Yaga, but where they committed atrocities on a one-on-one scale, the Pied Piper could take out an entire city of children in one night – and he was doing his best to do just that.

The Piper’s story was simple, simpler than humans thought it was since most of it, like the rat catching and refusal of the town elders to pay, was added later to pretty it up and justify taking the children. One thing they did get right, though – the children he took were never seen again, and no one, spirit or human, knew what he did with them once they were gone.

The children couldn’t see the Piper, but they heard his music, a good hundred or more of them following behind the man blindly as he pranced and twirled his way down the street. Up on the rooftop, Jack cursed again and glanced at the sky. He’d sent up the snow globe North had given him for emergencies – a new, portable version of the aurora – a good ten minutes ago, and he couldn’t wait much longer.

Bunny landed next to him with a quiet _thump_ and Jack let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding. Some part of him still didn’t expect help, even when he remembered he could ask for it.

Golden streams announced Sandy’s arrival as Tooth and North landed on the roof behind them with the light show that announced a portal. 

“Better be important, Frostbite,” Bunny grumbled, though it lacked bite. Jack silently gestured toward the parade of children down below and Bunny’s ears flattened against his neck as he took in the sight. Tooth gasped as North muttered a curse in Russian before clapping a hand to Jack’s shoulder.

“Good eye, Jack,” he said quietly. 

“You guys know anything about this guy?” Jack asked quickly, trying to hide the sudden rush of warmth the praise caused in his chest. “The stories I heard never said how to keep him from stealing the kids besides paying him on time. And why isn’t it affecting us?”

“We’re spirits, and mostly adults,” Tooth said quickly. “The Piper’s only interested in human children, so his piping only affects them. Add in that we’re magic, and we’re mostly immune. It might be different if he were aiming for us.”

Interesting…so being spirits, and adults, kept them safe from the Piper’s magic but not his? If that display at the workshop was anything to go by, then no, no it didn’t, though he hadn’t been focusing that day. Jack tucked that interesting tidbit away for now and focused on the problem at hand. 

“Piper is fast,” North added, “and the children don’t respond to anything once he has them entranced. We must make him stop piping somehow before he gets the children away, and hope that wakes them.”

“That’s it? No way to wake the kids up, no ideas of his weaknesses?” Jack asked incredulously when North stopped. 

North spread his huge hands in apology. “No one has caught him taking the children before, always got there too late.” Jack winced and looked back down at the children, who were almost past their building by now.

He tuned out the other Guardians’ arguments over how to stop the Piper’s song, focusing on the melody itself. It was a simple song, really, relying on the magic to compel the children to follow, the song encouraging them to want to come along a bare afterthought, with overtones of promises to keep the children from panicking until it was too late. There was only so much the Piper could do with straight instrumentals in the way of promises and encouragement.

Jack got the distinct feeling that it didn’t matter what the Piper played, the magic was all focused on entrancing the children to follow, unlike the way Jack’s song choice could change everything from who he affected to what happened when they heard him. Why bother with changing your song, with being subtle the way Jack preferred, when your magical clout was as strong as the Piper's?

If he…he risked a glance at the other Guardians, then back down at the children. The others would probably be furious he’d hidden this from them, suspicious of what he did with it and had done with it, but…the kids. He couldn’t just sit here and let the Piper take them.

“I…I’m going to try something,” he announced, cutting off the argument behind him. “Whether it works or not, can you try getting the Piper’s pipe off him? It might work if he’d stop.”

“Already trying to figure out how ta do that, Frostbite, but it won’t free the kids. Once the Piper’s got them, they tend to stay like that until he lets ‘em go.” Bunny snapped.

“Maybe it won’t work,” Jack snapped back, “but I have to _try_.” 

Determined not to look at the other Guardians now, refusing to see the confusion and eventual betrayal in their eyes, he hopped up onto the ledge around the roof. If he could take other people’s music and twist it, then…

He listened to the music a few moments more, running through the music he knew for what would merge with the Piper’s current song and make it clear he was calling the children and not his fellow Guardians before opening his mouth and beginning to sing. 

_Come little children,_  
 _I’ll take thee away,_  
 _Into a land_  
 _Of enchantment,_  
 _Come little children,_  
 _The time’s come to play…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And a challenger appears! I promised both longer chapters and a musical duel. The question now is, who are the children going to listen to - or will they even be able to hear Jack?


	5. The Sing-Off

Bunny had another sarcastic comment ready, but he’d kept it to himself when Jack snapped at him. Kid was more determined and a better Guardian than he’d given him credit for, even if he was full of strange ideas. Hadn’t he just heard them arguing over how to take down the Piper and heard that just taking the pipe wouldn’t work to free the ankle-biters?

Then the bloody spirit started to sing, twisting the Piper’s song and sliding his into it with the grace of a tai chi master, making the song his and the Piper’s music the background to his singing. 

Bunny was about to ask Jack just what he thought he was doing – singing along with the Piper’s song wasn’t about to get any of them anything but a sore throat, and the kids were deaf to everything but that song – when the first children, the ones at the back of the parade and closest to them, began to turn and look toward their building, stumbling away from the Piper’s parade. 

Jack slipped off the building, gracefully and smoothly gliding toward the ground. Bunny found himself beginning to follow, only stopped by the high ledge around the roof, shaking himself out of the brief daze. Glancing over showed North had the same reaction, while Sandy and Tooth were exchanging confused glances, shaking their heads to clear them.

“Any ‘o you know he could do that?” Bunny questioned with a jerk of his chin towards Jack, who had landed and begun to sing more coaxingly as more children began to turn toward him. Three negative gestures of confusion followed before the Piper’s song grew. 

He’d noticed the loss of the children.

Bunny gave himself a shake, opening up a tunnel. Questions _after_ you save the ankle-biters, Aster. “Reckin’ we oughta give Frostbite a hand there,” he said mildly with a smirk that belied his tone. North shot him a grin in agreement that reminded them all he was a bandit king before he became Jolly Ole’ Saint Nick, leaping down the hole with sabers drawn. 

Tooth and Sandy exchanged nods before taking to the skies, ready to start aerial attacks on the unsuspecting musician whenever the others were ready.

Down on the ground, one at either end of the mass of children, it was a musical duel between Jack and the Piper. The Piper hadn’t seen Jack yet, but he could feel the children being drawn away. 

He kept changing his song, trying to wrest control back from Jack, who couldn’t break the spell while the Piper still played, only change it. 

Jack kept cutting across the Piper’s music, switching from one song to the next as quickly as he could, fighting to keep up, caroling out joy and harmony and fun, hope and safety and home, coaxing the kids back to him and away from the Piper’s urging to follow him into the unknown, his unspoken promises of candy and toys and a land without parents or rules. 

The children were the rope in their musical tug of war, and as much as he hated doing it to them, Jack had no choice but to try and pull them away.

The Piper did have one advantage – he didn’t have to use any specific song, just make it up as he went. With Jack concentrating on not distracting his friends, he couldn’t sing without words, had to use actual lyrics, and each time he had to change his song he could feel himself starting to panic, to grope frantically for lyrics and songs he could use that would call the children alone in a mind that threatened to go blank under pressure.

The children wavered, stopped in the middle of the street, sometimes stepping toward one singer or the other, but most frozen in place between the two.

The Piper poured more magic into his song, and Jack smirked as he twisted it and made it his own. He didn’t need to pour magic into his singing to make it a call, it was as much a part of him as speaking was. He _was_ starting to get a little out of breath, but the push of the Piper’s magic twisted in with his by his song was enough to tip the balance and make most of the children turn towards him.

Still, it wasn’t quite enough, and they were hesitant, the Piper’s song holding them all under and keeping them in place save a few of the stronger children, who were starting to stagger away from the group towards Jack and his promise of home and safety. Not enough, though, not nearly enough.

Really, guys, could use some backup any time now, Jack thought, pausing for an instant for a desperate gasp of air.

Furious now that he’d realized the children weren’t defying him, they were being called away by someone else, the Piper sped his music, his slick promises dissolving in his anger into demands that the children listen to him, that they obey and come to him this instant. 

Grinning, Jack slipped into more upbeat tempo, folk tunes and happy, silly little songs, making some up on the spot, songs urging the kids to him with sheer joy. The Piper’s music was beginning to falter as rage stole his breath, and the last of the children turned toward Jack, the whole group turning from the Piper and beginning to stumble, falteringly, toward Jack. 

Tooth and Sandy began dive bombing the Piper the instant he began to falter and the last child turned away, when his concentration was already broken, and he had to break out some fancy dance moves to dodge Sandy’s dream sand and Tooth’s wings, his piping stuttering under their relentless assault. 

Jack drew the children closer to him as they fought, getting them out of the way and giving Tooth and Sandy more freedom to attack without fear.

Distracted in his rage and by Tooth and Sandy’s dive bombs, the Piper didn’t see the hole opening behind him, barely had time to turn before North’s huge fist connected with the side of his head, taking him down with one blow while Bunny grabbed the falling pipe. 

He smirked at Jack, spinning the instrument in his hand proudly. Jack gave him a thumbs up as he began coaxing the kids back towards their homes, urging them back to bed, changing his song into one about home and a longing to be there, tucked away safe in bed.

He kept singing until the last child was back in their home, letting the song trail off once they were sure all the kids were safe. 

Rubbing at his throat, Jack winced. It felt like he’d gargled with glass shards. He’d never sung that long before, and had a feeling he was going to be paying for it for awhile.

North’s hand landed heavily on his shoulder and he winced. Time to face the rest of the music.

“Come, Jack. We go back to the Pole now, yes?” Jack risked a glance at North, who smiled down at him before turning to watch Bunny toss the unconscious Piper into the sleigh. “We meet Bunny there, decide what to do with Piper after we’re all there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, close call there, but a Guardian victory in the end. Good thing Jack's good at improvising. And yet, now it's time for the hard questions, isn't it, Jack.


	6. Explanations

Jack was silent during the flight back to the Pole, as much from tension as from a simple desire to give his voice (and painful throat) a break, unwilling to look at the other Guardians.

The yetis swarmed the sleigh as soon as they landed, hauling off the still unconscious Piper – thank you Sandy – while North accepted the pipe from Bunny, tucking it away in a pocket for the two of them to inspect later.

Still silent, Jack followed the others toward the sitting room they tended to use for meetings. Running sounded more tempting by the moment, but he’d caught a few worried glances from the others that kept his feet pinned to the ground. 

North bellowed a few commands at the yetis as they walked, and they rushed off on various errands. There was a pitcher of water and glass sitting next to Jack’s armchair (the one North made special for him, just as he had the others, that let him know he was one of them) when they arrived at the meeting room, probably delivered by the yetis. Jack made a beeline for them, downing the first glass in seconds without pausing for breath and pouring a second. 

Phil came storming in soon before Jack could start the second glass, prying Jack’s mouth open and glaring down his throat with flashlight in hand as Jack flailed, much to Bunny and Sandy’s open amusement. Tooth at least tried to hide her giggles – very unsuccessfully – as Phil let go, growling something at North before storming off again. Jack flopped into his chair, sulking as he finished off the second glass of water and pouring another.

“Good,” North said shortly. “Phil says you haven’t damaged your throat, just strained it. So. Whenever you are ready to tell us.”

Jack winced, rubbing at his throat. Bunny rolled his eyes and got up, stalking over to stand in front of Jack’s chair.

“Overdid it, did ya, ya gumby? Lemmie see,” he said gruffly. Jack glared, raising one eloquent eyebrow. “Look, as much as I’m enjoyin’ you bein’ quiet fer once, I might have somethin’ that’ll make ya heal that much faster. So open up.”

Jack thought for a second, but as his throat was still bothering him – spirits healed much, much faster than humans, but not quite that quickly – he opened his mouth. Bunny glared down it before shrugging. “Could be worse,” Bunny commented, digging in his bandoleer and dropping something in Jack’s glass that turned the water spring green. “Drink up if you wanna talk tonight, Jackie. Usually I’d let ya wait until tomorrow, but I wanna know what happened tonight.”

Eyeing the glass dubiously, Jack glanced up at Bunny and over at the others. They were watching him expectantly, Tooth with a mild version of the pleading eyes her fairies had used on him before. Mentally sighing and bracing himself, he took a swallow.

…Oh. It was…good. 

Bunny laughed outright at the shocked expression on Jack’s face, settling back into his chair, smirking.

“Ah, Bunny got you,” North laughed. “Is real medicine, he just fixed the taste after he had to take his own medicines for awhile,” he added reassuringly as Bunny hissed for him not to talk about that thank you! 

Jack grinned at them and sipped at his glass. Whatever was in it, it felt good on his throat and he could almost feel it healing. 

Giving the water and Bunny’s medicine a chance to soothe and heal his throat, Jack made an image in ice, a miniature version of the Piper before looking at North with a clear question.

“The yetis are guarding him,” North answered readily. “Bunny and I will study this pipe of his tomorrow, but for now, all we can do is hold him. Is not like with Pitch, where we knew he could come back eventually. We will have to discuss what will happen to him, possibly with other spirits. It’s not the first time he’s tried this, just the first he’s been caught. He has much to answer for.” Jack made a silent ‘oh’, huddling back into his chair.

The room was mostly silent then, save for Tooth’s occasional order to a fairy – they’d been working on taking over when she was called away – and the general noise of the workshop that filtered through the walls.

Finally Jack finished the glass he was holding.

“Did it help, Jack?” Tooth asked quietly, reaching for him for a moment. He paused to take stock before nodding. Still a little sore, but even that was fading now. Bunny looked rather proud, and if his medicine did have magic to speed spirit healing, then Jack supposed he’d earned that pride. 

All of them leaned forward, looking at Jack eagerly, like children at storytime. Uncomfortably Jack looked away, playing with the glass.

“C’mon, Frostbite, don’t hold out on us. What was that back there?” Bunny demanded, anger mixed worry and curiosity, anger that Jack kept something else back from them and at the years of neglect and casual cruelty that made him want to keep secrets, but overridden with pure curiosity. “I’ve never seen something like that before.”

“We aren’t trying to pry, Jack,” Tooth said softly, flying forward to lay a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “We’ve always tried to know each other’s powers so we can plan fights better and can cover each other’s weaknesses.”

Sandy nodded encouragingly, sending up a swirl of incomprehensible sand images.

Jack fiddled with the glass some more, looking up through his bangs at his would-be family. It was true, they had let him know powers and weaknesses other spirits would never have guessed at (like Tooth’s hatred of monkeys, and Sandy’s extreme dislike of getting wet – sand plus water, even if it was dreamsand, apparently wasn’t fun – and just what happened when Bunny ate too much chocolate, and North’s allergy to peppermint and therefore of candy canes, of all things), and trust was a two way street…

“My Pa was a siren,” he blurted, getting it over with quickly, like ripping off a bandage. Four sets of eyes blinked blankly at him for long enough Jack started to feel uncomfortable before comprehension dawned.

“Oh,” Tooth said quietly, fluttering closer. Out of all of them, Jack figured she had the closest idea to what he meant with that simple statement.

“No one in the village ever knew,” he said quietly. “We were always really careful, and Emily was more careful than I was. I didn’t remember until…well, until I got everything back.”

“Wait a minute…” Bunny said suddenly, ears flattening against his back, “That night with the karaoke…”

“I tried to not take a turn,” Jack reminded him, smirking. “I can’t help it if Tooth’s fairies have mastered the puppy eyes.”

“Was very funny!” North laughed, clapping Bunny on the back. Bunny rolled his eyes but huffed, ears raising again and beginning to smile faintly.

“You’ve been careful with it, though, right Frostbite?” he asked instead. Jack reined in his temper quickly, knowing by now that losing it with Bunny wouldn’t lead anywhere good. They were friends now, and he didn’t want to lose the burgeoning friendship when all he had to do was keep his temper under control. Besides, considering some of the things he’d pulled in the past…

“As soon as I learned I could do it, yeah. I didn’t remember for awhile, but I tried to be. And I tried to use it for good…well, mostly.”

“ ‘Mostly’ being things like getting the unsuspecting to dance the Macarena?” Tooth asked wryly before Bunny could jump in. Jack laughed and ducked his head. That groundhog had had it coming. “Must have been too tempting to pass up,” she added softly, “if it was the only way to get a response to your presence.” 

Jack fidgeted at that, looking away and shrugging, confirming her guess. Too easy for it to go wrong to use for pranks very often. Tooth laid a hand on his shoulder, ignoring the frost flush forming on his face for the moment. “And…the using it for good?” she asked. 

He looked up, tilting his head in confusion, and she shrugged. “Sirens don’t like other spirits coming near them, so we…or at least, I…don’t know much about them or their powers besides ‘luring in ships to kill the sailors’,” she said quietly. A glance at the other three showed them nodding, Sandy sadly while Bunny and North looked faintly vengeful. “Do you mean like what you did today, with the children?”

“…well…yeah,” Jack said quietly, staring at his staff rather than at any of the others. “Like…leading kids home in a blizzard, or away from thin ice. I…I mean, I couldn’t always get there in time, but…” he was cut off when a pair of warm, feathered arms wrapped around him.

“None of us can always get there in time,” she whispered gently. “The important thing is that you tried.”

Slowly Jack’s arms came up to return her hug, mindful of her wings. Sandy was giving him two thumbs up and grinning at him, the particular grin that told Jack Sandy was already thinking of pranks to pull with Jack’s ability, while North beamed and Bunny gave him the soft smile Jack cherished, the hardest to coax from the Pooka. 

Oh. That wasn’t so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we finish Siren!Jack! I hope everyone who read this enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. I'm cautiously opening up requests/prompts for Siren!Jack - I can't promise anything besides considering them, since I have a lot of other writing to finish, but I'd love to see them.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who commented or left kudos!


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